He was sent back to England for treatment of his wounds; during the course of his recuperation he was transferred to the 10th Lancashire Fusiliers, still as a Private (40684). He also paid what might have been his last visit home to Smethwick . It was during the recuperation/ transfer period that he received a Certificate of Meritorious Service – believed to be the only awarded for service in France .

There was indeed a Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) but there were such certificates issued where there was no related award beyond the certificate itself.

One local man (to me), Bdr. Charles Wilfred Orton, 'C' Battery, 152nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, was awarded a 'Card of Honour' in recognition of his conduct during the preliminary bombardment for the Battle of the Somme. I don't think these were official War Office issue, rather the initiative of individual units, designed as a means of acknowledging good service where there was no prospect of a formal award being made.

"Card of honour" is not "meritorious service". I've seen many examples of cards of honour (sometimes issued when the man's unit felt he had missed out on a medal). Do you have examples of a meritorious service certificate? As MSMs were gazetted it should be easy to check if the man in question was awarded such.